Some data systems employ multiple target devices which may be accessed by host systems or other “initiators” to read and write data. Examples of such systems include data storage systems with multiple storage devices virtualized into logical volumes. Expanders are operable to interconnect between the target devices and the initiators via physical interfaces, or “PHYs”, to increase the number of targets that the initiators may access. The connection rates of the PHYs, or “link rates”, to the targets can vary. And, some of the initiators consistently request specific link rates. Accordingly, once the desired link rates to the targets become occupied, certain initiators may be excluded from accessing PHYs that support the targets via the faster link rates that they request.